SD Lucifer
Contents
Background
The SD Lucifer was a massive superdestroyer that led the Shivan incursion during The Great War. Armed with what would be termed today as 'beam cannons', the Lucifer possessed enough firepower to destroy capital ships and bombard planetary targets with ease. The vessel was rendered invulnerable to Terran and Vasudan weapons through the employment of an advanced shielding system. Unable to be stopped, the Lucifer lay waste to entire worlds, including Vasuda Prime.
In the ending phase of The Great War, Vasudan scientists fleeing their homeworld's destruction discovered Ancient artifacts on a planet in the Altair system. The information enclosed in the artifacts described the technology necessary to track vessels in subspace, something that neither Terrans or Vasudans had been able to do before. Coupled with the knowledge that shields did not function in subspace, a desperate plan was formulated to stop the Lucifer before the superdestroyer destroyed Sol.
Launching from the GTD Bastion, a small number of fighter and bomber wings followed the Lucifer into subspace as the destroyer made the jump from Delta Serpentis to Sol. The gamble succeeded, destroying the Lucifer and saving Sol. Unfortunately, the destruction of the Lucifer within the subspace corridor had the unintended side effect of collapsing the subspace corridor from Sol to Delta Serpentis, cutting off the heart of the Galactic Terran Alliance from the rest of the universe. However, the victory over the Lucifer effectively ended the Shivan incursion and Terran and Vasudan forces quickly evicted the remaining Shivan forces from their territories.
Lucifer Sightings and Fleet Movements during the Great War
The Lucifer's first known sighting was in the Ross 128 system, the prelude to the Great War with the Shivans (FS1 Intro). The Lucifer did not reemerge until 2/11/35, when it suddenly appeared in the Ribos system, destroying the Tombaugh Installation and all its defences. Terran Command believed that it had tracked the captured Shivan Cruiser, the Taranis, through subspace to the Tombaugh Installation (CB sm2-01a.fsm and CB sm2-05a.fsm).
By 2/20/35, the Shivans, however, bypassed the Terran blockades in Antares and Beta Aquilae completely, proceeding immediately to Deneb through Vega (CB sm2-07a.fsm). Terran Command believed that the Lucifer would attack Vasuda through Antares, while the Eva, a Shivan Demon-class destroyer, would attack through Deneb. However, on 2/31/35, the Lucifer was seen jumping in from the Deneb-Vega jump node into the Deneb system with the SD Eva (sm2-08a.fsm and its debriefing, CB sm2-09a.fsm). Seeking to stop the Shivans in Deneb, an attack squadron from the GTD Galatea attacked and destroyed the Eva. In response, the Lucifer directly confronted and destroyed the GTD Galatea (at 1900hrs 2/31/35; sm2-10a.fsm and its db, CB sm3-01a.fsm).
Shortly after the destruction of the Galatea, the Lucifer made the jump to Vasuda through the Deneb-Vasuda jumpnode (CB sm3-01a.fsm). Once in Vasuda, 2/31/25-3/01/35, the Lucifer Fleet bombarded Vasuda Prime from orbit for 13 consecutive hours, rendering the planet uninhabitable. The 'Lucifer fleet quickly moved on, now searching for the Terran homeworld.
On 3/01/35-3/02/35, the Lucifer jumped to Beta Aquilae, destroying the Beta Aquilae Installation, but left the PVD Hope and the Beta Aquilae Communications Terminal intact (briefing sm3-03a.fsm, CB sm3-04a.fsm).
On 3/02/35, the Lucifer jumped next to the Deneb-Altair jumpnode, deploying fighter wings to attack transports carrying scientists to the Altair system (sm3-05a.fsm and its debriefing).
By 3/29/35, after determining the location of the Sol system, the Lucifer was reported to be in the Sirius system to make the jump to Delta Serpentis (CB sm3-07a.fsm). The GTD Bastion was assigned the task of stopping the Lucifer before it could reach Sol and intended to intercept it at the Sirius-Delta Serpentis jumpnode. By the time the Bastion had arrived near the jumpnode, Admiral Shima estimated that the Lucifer would reach Earth in 40 hours (Debriefing 4: sm3-07a.fsm). At this point, the Lucifer had apparently already jumped in Delta Serpentis. On its final approach to the Delta Serpentis-Sol jumpnode, the Lucifer was on the brink of jumping to Sol (sm3-08a.fsm). After the Lucifer entered the subspace corridor, it was followed and destroyed in a last ditch attack by a GTA attack squadron just as it was exciting into Sol (sm3-09a.fsm). The resulting subspace explosion decimated all subspace corridors to Earth.
- In the Command Briefing of sm2-08a.fsm (2/31/35), Admiral Wolf indicates that Alpha 1 had investigated the Lucifer in Antares: "We have now entered the Deneb system. After your investigation of the Lucifer at Antares, Terran Command has deduced that the Shivans will be attempting a multiple pronged attack on Vasuda Prime coming from Deneb and Antares." However, Alpha 1 does not see the Lucifer in Antares, nor does Alpha 1 play a mission "investigating" the Lucifer in Antares. It may be that the mission designer incorrectly meant Alpha 1's future investigation of the Lucifer at Deneb while flying in a captured Dragon-class fighter (which is in sm2-08a.fsm), or Alpha 1's investigation of the Eva in Antares near the Antares-Vega Jump Node (which jumped out before Alpha 1 could reach it; sm2-06a.fsm) but that does not explain why Command believes that the Lucifer would attack Vasuda through Antares. If the Lucifer was actually sighted in the Antares system, this may explain why Command believes the Lucifer may attack Vasuda from Antares.
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| The SD Lucifer |
Description:
FS1 Tech Room Description
The Lucifer is the greatest threat to the survival of the GTA, the PVN, and both the Terran and Vasudan species. It wields three massive Flux Cannons which can destroy one of our capital ships in a few hits. These same cannons have been seen bombarding colonized worlds. With four full fighter squadrons, and a massive array of defensive turrets, the Lucifer would be extremely difficult to destroy.
The fact that it is protected by a sheath shielding system which makes it completely impervious to any kind of kinetic or plasma damage makes it impossible to destroy. We have yet to find a way to breach this shielding technology. It is hoped that a solution will be found soon.
Assuming that a solution is found, we have managed to gather enough data on the Lucifer to destroy it. In a recon mission, we were able to determine that the Lucifer is powered by five reactors across its surface. If these reactors are destroyed in a short amount of time, the Lucifer will be stopped.
If we cannot stop the Lucifer, we do not expect to be able to defeat the Shivans.
We have no way of knowing if there are more than one Lucifer-class destroyer. However, any that exist should be considered more dangerous than a Class A threat.
FS2 Tech Room Description
The SD Lucifer was a massive superdestroyer that led the Shivan armada in the Great War. No weapon in the allied arsenal could penetrate the Lucifer's shields. In the Altair system, Vasudan scientists uncovered ancient artifacts that explained how to track ships into subspace, where the Lucifer's shields would not function. A desperate mission to attack the Lucifer in subspace succeeded. But the explosion of the Lucifer collapsed the Sol jump node, severing all contact with Earth. The victory over the Lucifer effectively ended the Shivan invasion.
Developer Notes
None
Performance:
Statistics
| Type | Destroyer |
| Manufacturer | Unknown |
| Manuverability | N/A |
| Max Velocity | 15.0 mps |
| Max Afterburner Velocity | N/A |
| Armor | N/A |
| Hitpoints | 800 000 |
| Shields | N/A |
| Length | 2777 |
Armaments
| Freespace 1 | Freespace 2 | ||
| Turret Type | Amount | Turret Type | Amount |
| Shivan Turret Laser | 11 | Shivan Turret Laser | 11 |
| FighterKiller | 2 | FighterKiller | 2 |
| Shivan Cluster | 2 | Shivan Cluster | 2 |
| Shivan Super Laser | 2 | Small Red Beam | 2 |
Veteran Comments
If you restore the FS1 Shivan Super Lasers, or replace them with beams that do equivalent damage (such as Sesquipedalian's SSLBeam, the Lucifer again becomes a potent foe.
The Lucifer is the weakest destroyer in the area of firepower in FS2. In fact, the Lucifer has less firepower than the SC Rakshasa, though it has huge amounts of armor.
While the SD Lucifer was well-designed for FS1, it did not participate very much in the actual missions. This obviously resulted in the ship's weapons being unbalanced. For FreeSpace 2, she can be equiped with two frontier beam weapons, making the Lucifer-class a worthier adversary to any capital ship than she was in FreeSpace.